British Columbia Government launches Open Data Catalogue

The Government of British Columbia has became the first provincial government in Canada to launch an open data portal on Thursday, 21. July 2011.

British Columbia, 21. July 2011

(by Daniel Dietrich)

From the About page

Use DataBC to search data and make informed decisions, inspire change or develop ideas that will improve government policies. DataBC isn’t just data – it's access to data that drives our province forward. The data is here for you – to answer questions, to improve decision making or to help build government services that matter most to you.

Find data from across the province in DataBC’s data catalogue. Access various types of datasets and tools designed to help you conduct your own research, analyze statistics, develop apps or satisfy your curiosity. You might like to know:

What is the government spending money on?

Have sustainable changes impacted carbon emissions? Find out what’s working and what needs improvement.

Which schools have the highest student scores on tests? Does that impact which schools I consider for my children?

What do municipal tax rates look like across the province?

Stephanie Cadieux, Minister of Labour, Citizens’ Services and Open Government writes in the Blog of DataBC:

"The creation of DataBC is part of our commitment to be an open, transparent and accountable government. This is a central place for you to access – and a place for us to share – raw data and datasets that the provincial government collects.

DataBC will have about 2500 sets of data to start. This data is free, searchable and available for everyone to use. You’ll find different kinds of datasets and tools here to help you conduct research, analyze statistics, develop apps and answer other questions."

"This means that many of that BC's open data can be used for commercial purposes, political advocacy, personal use and so forth. In short the restrictions are minimal and, I believe, acceptable. The license addresses the concerns I raised back in March when I said 2011 would be the year of Open Data licenses in Canada", he wites.